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<title>Of Pins And Needles by Adane_beinleumi</title>
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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/30098310">Of Pins And Needles</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Adane_beinleumi/pseuds/Adane_beinleumi'>Adane_beinleumi</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Naruto</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Awkward Romance, Genma is Genma, M/M, Raidou is precious, fluffish maybe??, post-Kyūbi</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-03-17</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-03-17</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-15 22:35:54</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,155</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/30098310</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Adane_beinleumi/pseuds/Adane_beinleumi</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>“I’ll call you “a needle”,” grins Raidou.<br/>“I’d prefer “the needle”."</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Namiashi Raidou/Shiranui Genma</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>10</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Of Pins And Needles</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“I’ll call you “a needle”,” grins Raidou after Genma kills their aim by spitting a senbon into his eyeball with pinpoint accuracy.</p><p>“I’d prefer “the needle”,” mutters Genma but Raidou is already gone from his side cutting down one of the aims’ now pointlessly angry bodyguards. Eight of them here, only four shinobi, only two jōnin, plenty of poisoned senbon in Genma’s pouch, a long sword in Raidou’s hands, a tactics well-established. Genma gets rid of the slowest and sees the swordsman’s back while he pushes his two adversaries closer to the hidden kunai with the fūin.</p><p>Closer. Two other shinobi seem content enough they have Genma to deal with. Good.</p><p>Closer. I need to concentrate, thought flickers at the back of Genma’s head. </p><p>Closer. He has no chakra for the second attempt.</p><p>Closer.</p><p>Hiraishin, and Genma appears right behind two bodyguards who are a little bit too preoccupied with the fight with Raidou. The swordsman turns back fast enough to use the length of his sword to scratch two shinobi who were opposing Genma before. Fleshes of the two unusually long kunai – thank you, Minato-taichō – and former Raidou’s adversaries are done.</p><p>They spring back, waiting for the poison covering Kokuto to take effect. Konoha needs to regain her prestige after all the damage Kyūbi has done. And she will get it back.</p><p>“You should be a pin then,” says Genma when they’re finished with the clean-up, “Your sword, and shit.” Almost no chakra left, Hiraishin demands too much, and he reels until Raidou catches him. The swordsman chuckles and holds him straight.</p><p>“Agreed.”</p><p>***</p><p>When they’re finally more or less safe, lost deep in the forests on neutral lands, Genma puts his senbon behind the ear and catches Raidou’s wrists, stilling him and slowly stroking his naked palms and bare forearms. Warm. Familiar. Breathtaking.  </p><p>Genma almost brushes his lips against Raidou’s mouth, watching in awe and delight how darken the hazel eyes of ever-calm Raidou when he arches pressing into his body. A steel touch of Raidou’s rings on the cheekbone and neck makes Genma moan rushing through the distance between them and getting a quick taste of the dry salty mouth. </p><p>Joy fills him. He’s finally…</p><p>But Raidou puts a firm hand on his chest keeping him still as he leans away and takes a couple of steps back. Gleams of the small smokeless fire are quick to disappear in his now fully black eyes.</p><p>“You’re half-hard so don’t pretend you’re uninterested,” analyses Genma out loud, licks his lips. “So, I’m the reason.”</p><p>“First things first,” Raidou replies. “I’ve told you already. What do you want now?”</p><p>“I wanna feel your scar with my tongue, and after that all your scars, and then have you pin me against some formidable surface as you did,” Genma sighs, he remembers the part with “words come first with me” too well. “It’s you who’s the pin here after all.”</p><p>“Why?”</p><p>“Are you <i>that</i> dim?”</p><p>“Not really,” Raidou sits in front of the fire. Fortunately, they’ve made it far enough to stop for a proper night camp. Late autumn is cold this year. “I’m just taking precautions.”</p><p>“Against what? Me being an asshole?”</p><p>Raidou laughs, a short warm sound. “Of course not. I know well who you’re.”</p><p>“So, why not have it now if it doesn’t matter? Mission report submitted, everything is forgotten.”</p><p>“Forgotten, you say?”</p><p>Genma shuts up. He can’t <i>really</i> frame it this way, neither can he admit the truth. Silence falls in between them, Genma expects it to turn awkward and distanced, but Raidou looks at him sympathetically and warmly, and Genma wants just to claw his heart out not to feel the gaze of the kind hazel eyes searching him, lingering, touching lightly.</p><p>“Your dick should be subject to a medical investigation,” says Genma finally taking his seat near the friend. “Given how quickly your arousal is gone. What do you even do at your swordsmen classes, a-a, sempa-a-ai?”</p><p>Raidou laughs at that again, fondly and breathlessly, and Genma feels how blood flushes right into his cheeks. He has always been like that, coals that do not glitter but give a steady warmth.</p><p>“I’ve never been and never would be your sempai,” he smiles, “But kenjutsu classes do indeed include formal training in composure. You can’t give in to your emotions while wielding a sword.”</p><p>“So…,” Genma waits but no expected pun comes, “Where’s the part about me attending some of them to spare the village as a whole and you in particular from my obsessions and unacceptable behavior?”</p><p>Raidou catches his gaze and smiles with his eyes, soft fair brown, and little golden sparkles which – Genma knows it first-hand – have nothing to do with the lit fire.</p><p>“You’re fine just as you are.”</p><p>And Genma growls, desperate and weak, burying his face in the hands. He gives up this man. There’s nothing he can use to counter such blatant words said in such a confident tone.</p><p>***</p><p>Headquarters can barely handle the number of indispensable tasks, so they’re assigned new, now separate missions right after submitting a report. Raidou has only a few hours left to change his equipment, and Genma doesn’t expect him at all to catch his elbow dragging them under the stairs that lead to the next store of the dorms where the swordsman’s room is. </p><p>“Stay still, you bastard.”</p><p>Genma feels a coolish touch of a small metal object of unfamiliar shape right on the neck, freezes instinctively, but Raidou lightly presses a thumb against his nape and Genma knows straight away – it’s not dangerous.</p><p>“What’s that?”</p><p>“A pin.”</p><p>“Are you an idiot? It can pierce the artery!”</p><p>“It can’t. It’s a safety pin, and I’m putting it with the lock to the outside. Plus, you’ll surely change this shirt shortly.”</p><p>“Why?”</p><p>“They’re said to bring good luck.”</p><p>“For fuck’s sake, it’s not even me whose mi-…”</p><p>Genma feels the nose nuzzling behind his ear and instantly holds his breath. As he hears the long deep inhales Raidou takes burying his nose in his dirty locks, the knees turn weak, and body yielding, relaxing automatically in the tight grip of Raidou’s arms.  </p><p>“Breathe,” smiles Raidou into his neck, the wet touch of his mouth burning on the skin. “Just breathe.”</p><p>The warmth of his firm steady feel devoid of any rush is too overwhelming, and Genma growls unable not to give in one more time. He has long lost count of the times he surrendered like that, so… One more time doesn’t change anything, does it? Genma stabs his senbon into the fabric of the sleeve of Raidou’s shirt trying not to think of how stupid this is and brushes his fingers against Raidou’s palm, once, light and unsure, hoping the swordsman won’t notice.</p><p>He gets caught the next second.</p><p> </p><p>When Raidou leaves for the singular mission he has, the needle is pinned on the inner side of his vest.</p>
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